2014 Chevrolet Sonic Dusk

Chevrolet has injected a little bit of bad into its subcompact sedan. This newest version, which debuted as a concept at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show, is a sportier, tougher-looking Sonic complete with 18-inch wheels, a new grille treatment, chrome exhaust tips and a dusk-hued paint job, dubbed Ashen Grey.

Essentially, a sportier version of the Sonic LTZ, the Sonic Dusk is powered by the same 1.4-liter turbocharged inline-four found on current Sonic LT and LTZ models, good for 138-horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque. The Sonic Dusk will come with a 6-speed manual transmission (as opposed to the 5-speed found on other Sonic models), or a 6-speed automatic.

Like other Sonics, the Dusk will come standard with 10 airbags, including seat-mounted thorax side-impact, head curtain and knee airbags. Other nice touches not often found standard on subcompact cars include a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel and 60/40 folding rear seats.

Pricing or an exact release date hasn't been announced, but GM says it is working to get this top-of-the-line Sonic to dealers soon. Our best guess is that it could arrive sometime in mid-2013. And all that fancy styling doesn't come cheap. We expect pricing will be slightly above the Sonic LTZ, which begins at $19,375 with the automatic transmission.